As another year began, I sat in the office filled with employees completing their annual mandatory learning modules. I heard the hoots with glee as individuals finished the online quiz, “got it in 1 go”, “6 tries”, “8 tries”, “only 14 attempts”. I heard groups of people shouting answers, across the room, to the stale mundane ordered learning questions. So many courses to do, so much disinterest in learning, so many people wasting their time completing or repeating their quiz with the final outcome, a printed certificate, rather than actual learning. But what was the alternative? We had tried it the year before. The boss standing up the front of two hundred staff presenting an outsourced PowerPoint that he had seen once before and proceeded to read each word off the screen to the struggling employees who were in various states of awareness. Some were hiding their phones under the desks, some watched the fan spin around as last year a student had drawn a spiral pattern on it which provided a few seconds of amusement for many staff. But those few seconds were a welcome escape from the monotone message delivery service at the front of the room. That year we sat wishing that they had again used the online course, for at least there was a chance of speedier delivery.
Often companies settle on the fact that compulsory learning is just another mandatory task around the office. It is often the mandatory, required and tick in the box activities that we find quick, easy and often nasty solutions to. I am sure everyone has suffered through these processes in one way or another in the past. Whether you were the employee who sat through the solution, or the person responsible for finding the quickest, easiest option. What did you do? Was it quick? Easy? Cheap? Was it popular? Unfortunately, when we find quick and easy solutions, we often miss hidden opportunities. After completing their mandatory learning in your office, are your staff eager to sign up for extra learning due to the experience? There is a good chance you are in the majority that only sign up for learning or development when it is mandatory, as that is deterrent enough to keep you away for the rest of the year.
What if you invested a little more time and resources into the problem instead of reaching for the quick, default option? What if you had a learning management system that delivered courses, including your mandatory ones, just a little bit differently? We know there are different types of learners, we know there are different styles of teaching, and we know learning can be altered depending on engagement, mood and motivation. We have designed an LMS, LEX, that caters for the majority.
My dream as a manager has always been to provide engaging opportunities and motivation for staff to become self-motivated lifelong learners. I have always wanted a tool that catered to a variety of learning styles and somehow, made my job easier in that staff would want to upskill and develop themselves and in turn be more valuable and innovative for the organisation. Unfortunately, I never found such a tool.
At Lexlife Solutions we have created a product to fill this void. LEX is a Learning Management System that does more. Each course is broken into sections to cater for all. With adaptive learning and gamification in each course your staff will find new enthusiasm for learning. Our hope is that they will become so engaged and entertained in the once mundane learning styles, that this will flow on to encourage them to continue learning in areas that they are interested in pursuing. The gamification adds a competitive intrinsic motivation which can lead to extrinsic motivators such as leader boards, social notifications and real-world experiences. I am sure after a weekend at the beach your staff will return Monday ready to develop themselves further. Skilled, knowledgeable employees support successful, innovative companies. When it comes to learning and development in your organisation, you simply cannot afford the quick cheap solution.